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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Review: White Reindeer (Zach Clark, 2013)

White Reindeer is screening at the 8th Possible Worlds
Festival of American and Canadian Cinema, which runs between 8-18
August at Dendy Opera Quays and Dendy Newtown. Ticket purchases and
program information can be found here (link: www.possibleworlds.net.au)

Written, directed and edited by provocative indie filmmaker, Zach Clark (Rock and Roll Eulogy, Modern Love is Automatic and Vacation!, which I will now endeavour to seek out), White Reindeer is
a beguiling Christmas film that takes on peculiar odds. Set in pristine
suburban Virginia, the fake veneer of brightly coloured festive
accessories used to stifle the dark and sombre mood is doubly a comment
on the spirit of the holiday and the protagonist’s compensation for the
loss of her infectious holiday cheer. Clark’s film is populated with an
ensemble of strange and sympathetic characters and is both a darkly
comic look at American suburbia and a quietly devastating character
study. Embalmed with enough sweetness, pathos and awkward humour to
lighten the mood, White Reindeer jabs at our emotions, to profound effect, without being extraordinary.